Patience, Practice, and Penguins!
by ohyouknow88
Summary: Katara goes down to the south pole to meet the new Avatar. I still am terrible at summeries, but that's what it's about, so there! one-shot. please, read & review.


**Yay. I've been working on this one for a while now, but i finally finished it. I'm always interested in the Korra-Katara relationship. It's really sweet how Katara cares for her like another grandkid. Anyways...on with the story.**

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Katara couldn't blame him for leaving early to avoid meeting the girl. It was hard for her, too. It had only been a few years since Aang passed on and Tenzin was having a hard time. But Katara had made a promise to Aang, one she intended to keep, no matter how hard it would be for her.

Oogie landed with a thump, and Katara carefully made her way down his tail with the help of Tenzin. She looked around at the white landscape she called home, and smiled at the almost forgotten memories from long before. Tenzin walked a short ways with her, asking if she would be alright, and if she was sure she could do it.

Katara reassured her son with a simple, "I'll be fine. Your father wanted this."

Tenzin left her at the door to one of the huts with a goodbye, not wanting to go in. He couldn't. He walked back to Oogie and left back to Republic City. After all, there was work to do.

Katara would be moving to the compound the White Lotus were making to protect the new Avatar once it was completed, where she would train the girl in waterbending, and was going to stay at an old friend's house until it was done. Everyone had insisted she be the one to teach the girl. After all, who better to train the new Avatar than the person who trained the one before? Katara would have trained her whether the Order of the White Lotus had any say in the matter, though. Aang had asked her to, so she would do it.

She was let inside by the girl's parents, and saw some White Lotus members were already there, most standing against the wall, looking for any sign of danger. Katara almost rolled her eyes at how overprotective the sentries were. The fact that the new Avatar had been found so soon wasn't exactly public knowledge. It was really only known by higher members of the OWL, and Katara and Tenzin, who would train her when she was ready, not to mention the girl's parents.

The new Avatar was actually sitting in the middle of the room, looking rather bored. She was balancing a small flame in her hands and scorching the ground, but quickly grew tired of it and decided to show off for some of the sentries.

"I can earthbend!" she exclaimed to one, who just looked down at her. "Wanna see?" she yelled. Before the man had a chance to answer, the little girl jumped and when she landed, a chunk of earth had come up and moved around the room.

"Korra, no earthbending in the house," her mother, Senna, told her. Korra just pouted and dropped the boulder sized chunk in the middle of the floor. "There's someone here to meet you."

Korra was still pouting, and looked at her feet as she walked closer to the door, not really paying attention. She hated that so many people were coming to meet her, when they all turned out to be boring and quiet and no fun at all. They all just asked her questions about her bending (which she didn't mind because it meant she could bend in the house without getting yelled at), and stood against the wall, and never played with her.

When Korra looked up though, fierce determination to tell this new person to just leave written all over her face, she was surprised. Several old people had already come by, but this one was…different. She couldn't explain it.

The old woman was smiling down at her. Her eyes were blue and her hair was white with age, but Korra knew something about her was special. The old woman didn't look out of place in the freezing South Pole like the sentries did. But it wasn't just that. It seemed…right that she was there, almost like she had seen her before.

"You must be Korra."

"Who are you?" Korra asked, genuinely curious, all the fire in her eyes gone. This lady didn't call her Avatar Korra like everyone else. It was strange to not hear it from a person she figured would be just like everyone else, but she liked it. It was nice to not be called 'Avatar' or 'the one' like she heard that chubby Lotus guy say when he first showed up. It wasn't judgmental at all. It seemed strange for Korra to even think about it, but the lady's voice was soft and almost familiar. She had no want to tell this new person to leave left in her. To stay might be better, but not leave.

"My name is Katara," the old woman said. "I'm going to be your waterbending teacher."

There was a spark of recognition in the young Avatar's eyes as she grinned up to her elderly master. Katara caught it instantly, but didn't know if she should say anything else, so she just smiled politely. This girl was, after all, not her husband. She really hadn't expected anything but the hot tempered, headstrong four year old she was told about, but she had hoped.

Korra leaned closer to Katara, cupping both hands in front of her mouth so she could whisper without anyone else hearing, "I need to ask you something."

Now it was Katara's turn to be confused, asking cautiously, "What?"

"Come closer," she whispered.

"What is it?" Katara bent down so she was eye level with the little girl, who was grinning. She chuckled a little at the girl, who looked adamant that she not be heard by the sentries or her parents who were standing a few feet away.

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?"

Katara burst into amused laughter, earning confused looks from a few White Lotus members. She didn't need to see the girl's bending abilities to know she was the Avatar, even if the White Lotus insisted on proving it to her. The girl looked so much like Aang for that split second that it brought tears to Katara's eyes. She had no doubt in the girl whatsoever.

"I'm sorry sweetie. I'm a little too old for that," she said between bits of laughter. Instantly, that spark was gone from Korra's eyes and Katara almost wanted to take back what she said, just to see it again. Korra pouted again, and the fierce determination was back. Katara smiled at her soon to be pupil. "But maybe we can go later, but I'll just have to watch. Now, why don't you clean up this mess and I'll ask your parents."

"Okay," Korra smiled again, just without the same twinkle in her eyes as she had before. Korra's parents looked at the elderly waterbender in awe.

"How did you do that?" Senna asked. She had more than one rough days with Korra and her messes, but usually took hours to get her to clean up or Senna would have to do it herself or with Tonraq. But there Korra was, moving the giant rock back where it belonged.

"Do you mean getting an unruly child to clean up her mess? Or do you mean getting the Avatar to do what you say?" Katara asked, chuckling.

"I guess both," Senna replied, her mouth slightly agape and her eyes never leaving her daughter. Korra seemed more determined to clean up her mess than Senna had ever seen. It was definitely a shock. She could hear her husband laugh from behind her, but didn't really pay attention.

"Years of patience and practice," Katara said seriously, but smiled as she said, "but a little penguin sledding doesn't hurt anyone either."

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**I honestly have no idea why, but the water tribe girls are my favorite characters from both series (but i do have a ton of favorites from both series. Over ten tons if you include Appa :) Gotta love Appa. I absolutely love Katara and Korra. Even better to have them interacting with each other! It's really fun to write about anything in AtLA and LoK. Like i said before, so many things in 70 years. Anyways, you know how to review i assume, but then again, you know what they say about that... Review if you can, or want to. I do enjoy reading reviews, tips, complaints (not flames), and anything else you can possibly put in a review! Thanks, and Ciao. **


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